Australian Immigration Daily News

The Migration Amendment (Subclass 100 and 309 Visas) Regulations 2022 (the Regulations) amend the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Migration Regulations) to enable the 'COVID-19 concession' cohort to access the 'relationship cessation provisions' (RCPs) as part of meeting the criteria for grant of a Subclass 100 Partner visa or a Subclass 309 Partner (Provisional) visa.

The Regulations make amendments to the Migration Regulations that enable Subclass 100 visa applicants to access RCPs to meet the primary criteria for the grant of a Subclass 100 visa, if the applicant was granted their Subclass 309 visa in Australia under the COVID-19 concession, and their sponsoring partner has died, or their relationship with their sponsor has ceased. This ensures that applicants granted a Subclass 309 visa in Australia under the COVID-19 concession, and who satisfy the Minister that they were the spouse or de facto partner of their sponsoring partner, continue to be eligible to access a pathway to permanent residence in the following relationship cessation circumstances:

- the applicant's sponsor has died; or

- the relationship between the applicant and the sponsor has ceased and either or both of the following apply:

• the applicant or a member of the family unit has suffered domestic and family violence (DFV) committed by the sponsoring partner;
• the applicant and sponsor share custody, formal maintenance obligations or access rights to at least one child.

Source: Migration-Amendment-sc100-and-309-Regulations-2022.pdf and

Migration-Amendment-Sc-100-and-309-visas-Regulations-2022-Explanatory-Statement.pdf

The Disallowable Legislative Instrument amends the Migration Regulations 1994 (the Regulations) to reduce the total visa application charge (VAC) payable by CSP primary applicants for Subclass 202 (Global Special Humanitarian) visas by approximately 60 per cent and removes the VAC entirely for secondary applicants (members of the family unit of the primary applicant). It is anticipated that the VAC reduction will result in an increase in the number of CSP visa application lodgements. This will enable the CSP to achieve its policy intention to operate at scale as an effective visa pathway that complements the other existing Refugee and Humanitarian Program visa categories.

The Disallowable Legislative Instrument also streamlines the AoS requirements by making the requirement discretionary for secondary applicants so that the secondary applicants can be excluded from the AoS requirement if they have not reached the age of 15, or if they have reached or are close to reaching pension age as defined in the Social Security Act 1991.

Migration-Amendment-subclass-202-visas-Regulations-2022.pdf and 

Migration-Amendment-subclass-202-visas-Regulations-2022-explanatory-statement.pdf

In effect, recent changes to policy relating to the Condition 8570 introduced by the Department of Home Affairs (the Department) has resulted in many SHEV and TPV holders being denied the approval required to travel outside of Australia. This shift in the Department’s approach to assessing requests to travel under Condition 8570 is currently depriving many SHEV and TPV holders from their only opportunity to be reunited with their families.

The MIA understands that the position of the newly elected Labor Government is to abolish temporary protection visas.  The MIA welcomes this announcement and looks forward to working with the Government for changes to occur to the migration framework to facilitate this.

Source: MIA-Shev-and-TPV-holders-and-Conditions-8570.pdf

The following information has been provided by the Department of Home Affairs to Migration Alliance:

We are pleased to advise that from 1 August 2022, applicants will be able to lodge Bridging A, B and C visa applications via an online webform Submit your Bridging visa application online (Bridging visa A, B or C only).  This webform should be used by applicants who are unable to lodge a Bridging visa application through ImmiAccount, and would otherwise have submitted their application via a paper based application by mail or in person. 

From 1 August 2022 all applicants applying for a Bridging A, B or C visa in Australia must lodge their application online either through ImmiAccount or the webform on the Department’s website. Paper applications will no longer be accepted as a valid method of lodgement from this date. 

In Australia alone, the scarcity of qualified skilled construction workers is significant, with an estimated 105,000 additional workers required within the next year.

Put simply, this challenge cannot be solved by migration and training alone. The silver bullet is productivity.

Source: Australian-Constructors-Association.pdf